Then There Were Three, Part 3 of 3
by LikeCrimsonBloodshed
Summary: Danny Dixon comes face-to-face with the Middleman universe, and must make a choice. Does he join them?
1. Chapter 1:  A Choice to Make

**Middleman HQ**

**2:10 P.M.**

"You're actually telling me that's the way the world works. Monsters, aliens, androids, they're all real."  
>"You seem quick to forget what you saw just this morning."<br>"Oh so NOW you agree that what I saw was what I saw!"  
>"Technically I never didn't. "<br>At this point all Danny wanted was answers, and this guy who called himself The Middleman was just frustrating him more. He felt like his head was spinning at a million miles a minute.  
>He still didn't quite know where he was or who these people were. He still didn't know what the hell happened with his apartment. Now he was being told by several practical strangers that the world actually does run like any comic book he grew up his entire life reading.<br>"Forgive me for any frustrations, Danny, but we never told you what you saw was wrong, we simply attempted to offer you a persuasion that would allow you to accept a more rational belief than what actually happened."  
>As the four of them walked down a long hallway made out of shining brown mahogany wood like everything else seemed to be, Danny squinted at The Middleman for what felt like the millionth time and shook his head.<br>"Soooooo….you tried to Jedi Mind Trick me."  
>Wendy exhaled happily.<br>"Thank you! That's exactly what I said!"  
>The Middleman thought briefly of casting another scornful look at his young protégé, but immediately thought better of it in order to preserve the progress of the moment at hand.<br>"Believe me, Mr. Dixon. It's far from a mind 'trick'. After all, the mind picks and chooses what it wants to accept as reality or fantasy. Fortunately, for us and our organization, the majority of the world chooses to accept a way of life apart from the one we see, keeping the peace."  
>Now Danny was outright curious.<br>"And what exactly is your way of life?"  
>The Middleman smiled knowingly as they neared an open doorway.<br>"Allow us to show rather than tell."  
>At that, the four of them stepped into a larger room and Danny cast a look around, his eyes shooting open in fascination.<br>It would have looked like any other room in this building, with mahogany walls and the like, if it weren't for the glowing and pulsating machines all around him. There stood a panel of television screens in front of him with various metal contraptions perched atop them. What appeared to be a large wooden cabinet housing metallic armor and weaponry stood behind him when he looked back.  
>What looked like a cross between a space suit and a robot stood still to his left, and to his right sat a reading desk with a small lamp and a telephone. The Middleman quickly strode to the television panel and began typing. Wendy had already crossed her arms and began leaning against the wall across from Danny.<br>He spun slowly, taking it all in, not even knowing that his mouth was slightly agape.  
>"What…IS all this?"<br>"It's machinery dedicated to our constant watchful presence over the world. It was how we were able to observe what happened to you this morning. Here, take a look for yourself."  
>Danny turned and walked over to the one screen The Middleman was standing beside. It was somehow showing a real-time video recording of his fight with Monster Amy.<br>Of course, Danny had called it a fight in his mind, but the images of him hanging upside-down and thrashing around sure made the fight look pretty one-sided.  
>"Do I even want to know how you got video of this?"<br>"You were thrashing around really good. Like a fish out of water."  
>Danny turned to see Wendy snickering, watching the video of him failing, badly.<br>"I was….just trying to get my bearings," he said.  
>"What holds more relevance is what happens….right here." The Middleman pointed at the screen.<br>Danny turned back in time to see the moment he splashed his coffee all over Monster Amy and she dropped him. He then witnessed himself making a break for it before he was caught by her tentacle again.  
>"Tell me what you did right there, Mr. Dixon."<br>"I…..splashed hot coffee on Monster Amy before running?"  
>"It does appear that the coffee was still warm enough….even though our diagnostics confirmed you had been partaking of it all night. Strange."<br>"Yeah, special thermos my parents got me after graduation."  
>"Fascinating."<br>Danny turned toward the Middleman and cocked another eyebrow.  
>"So, WHAT exactly does watching this video have to do with anything?"<br>"My, you're an impatient one."  
>The Middleman cast a quick glance over at Wendy, who shook her head, smiling right back at him. In many ways, this young man reminded him a lot of his current protégé. For his own sake, and the sake of the organization, he hoped Danny would be just as plucky and strong-willed.<br>"The point is even in the midst of certain dismemberment, you found the will inside of you to fight back against the Terractula," The Middleman continued. "While so many others would have cried or frightened themselves into a temporary coma, or defecated in their pants out of sheer terror, you chose the path of living and chose to do something about it."  
>The Middleman stood a little taller and smiled down at him.<br>"That puts you at a cut above the rest of the population."  
>Danny paused, and turned to look at the screen again. The frozen image of him staring up in terror as Monster Amy was about to smash him with the studio cameras sure didn't seem like the kind of photo he'd want on any sort of resume.<br>"I….thought that was just standard self-preservation," Danny said. "Fight or flight."  
>"Exactly!"<br>The Middleman clapped a hand on Danny's shoulder and startled him a bit.  
>"In that choice, you chose to fight, despite not knowing the creature you were up against, and despite not fully comprehending your world anymore. You didn't bat an eye, you just acted. Like Wyatt Earp never backed down from Johnny Ringo."<br>Danny was confused.  
>"Erm…did you just make a "Tombstone" reference?"<br>"Schyeah. Hope you like Westerns!"  
>That brought yet another dubious look from the The Middleman, but Wendy still laughed and walked over to stand beside her mentor, smiling over at Danny.<br>"That kind of bravery in the midst of certain death is exactly what we need in our organization, Mr. Dixon. We believe you have what it takes to join us."  
>Danny raised his eyebrows.<br>"Wait, join you? In exotic contracting?"  
>"In saving the world every day, Danny. We want you to be a part of something much bigger than yourself. A chance for your eyes to be opened to a far bigger world than the one you're in now. A chance for you to make a great difference to your fellow man."<br>"OK, boss, we're borderline quoting "The Matrix" now."  
>The Middleman, in true Morpheus fashion, never moved, remaining perfectly zen as he and his apprentice stood in front of Danny.<br>"What do you say, Mr. Dixon? Will you join us?"  
>Danny literally couldn't think of his next words. His world was indeed crashing down all around him. He was still wrapping his mind around what this place was and who these people were. He didn't even know exactly what it is they did, only that it had something to do with "stopping evil" and "saving the world".<br>The Middleman stood, watching Danny expectantly, waiting for his answer. Admittedly, he had never intended something like this to be so rushed and sudden, but there were circumstances afoot. Deadly ones. Ones that would be placing him and anyone involved in the Middle-organization in great danger. He wanted this protection for Danny, and deep-down, The Middleman wanted to believe that maybe he could be the one that they'd been waiting for.  
>Wendy crossed her arms, smiling over at the new kid. In the short time they'd come to know him, Danny reminded her a lot of when she was first approached by The Middleman to join him in their never-ending quest. The confusion and shock in his eyes was so familiar to her it was almost creepy. She guessed that was why, as they were standing there waiting for his answer, she felt for him.<br>Even Ida paused her indifference and looked at the little squat, wanting to see how far this went.  
>Danny took a breath, exhaled, and faced the two of them.<br>"No."  
>That answer left Wendy and The Middleman silent for a few moments. Ida turned back to her solitaire on the desk.<br>"Excuse me, Mr. Dixon?" The Middleman couldn't hide the small squeak in his voice with the question.  
>"I said no. I don't know where I am. I don't know who you are. I don't know what it is you do, and you're asking me to sign on to your cause? One I'm not even sure is completely legal? Is this how you get all your recruits?"<br>Wendy bit her lip and looked down awkwardly, kicking at a small piece of lint on the floor before looking back up at him.  
>"You could say that."<br>"Mr. Dixon," The Middleman stepped in. "I do apologize for the way things have transpired so quickly, but I assure we did it in the best interest of…"  
>"Protecting me?" Danny cut him off. "You call this protection? From what, even?"<br>Danny held out his hands, but no one answered that. He continued.  
>"I want you to get me out of here, and get me my apartment back."<br>The Middleman pressed his lips together and hung his head for a moment, then slowly looked back up at the young man he thought they could place their hopes in. Maybe he was wrong after all.  
>Then an old memory returned to him, and he recalled when Wendy first came here, how she had initially refused this task too. He remembered how she came around eventually, and proved to be the most valuable partner he could ask for.<br>Maybe, just maybe, Danny might be the same.  
>"Very well, Mr. Dixon, you need not make your decision right this moment. You can have some time to think on it."<br>Danny crossed his arms.  
>"I don't want to think on anything. I believe I already gave you my answer."<br>The Middleman held up a hand.  
>"That's all I ask. You take a night or two to think about where your life is right now, if you're truly satisfied with it. I want you to understand that incidents like the one you went through happen every day, and most of the time they're far worse, and people's lives are endangered."<br>The Middleman paused and took a few more steps toward Danny.  
>"I want you to think about just how much you wanted to be saved from that Terractula, and how you never wanted to feel that powerless again."<br>Danny paused. He saw such earnestness in The Middleman's eyes as he looked at him. It was the kind of truth that never drew suspicion, the kind that was completely meaningful.  
>Even The Middleman was surprised at his own words. He didn't often show such emotion in a request. He realized he had begun drawing upon his own personal experiences in this organization. He quickly calmed himself.<br>Danny shrugged. "Alright, alright. I'll think about it, if you really want me to."  
>The Middleman closed his eyes and a smile came to his face.<br>"That's all I ask. Now, Wendy will be escorting you to your new, safer apartment."  
>With that, The Middleman turned on a heel and began walking back to the television screens to stop and consider them thoughtfully. He never turned back around as Wendy walked toward Danny, grabbing him by the shoulder and twirling him around to follow her.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: New Friends, New Faces

**A/N: Hello again, guys! I finally got this next chapter up and going, sorry for the long wait for those of you who have been following it. Please review and let me know! Danny joins us with some very familiar faces in this chapter. **

**The illegal sublet Wendy shares with another young, photogenic artist.  
>2:45 P.M.<strong>

"Really? It was covered in eyes?"

"Eyes, arms, and everything else. Smelled like a city dumpster too."

"So what happened? How did you escape?"

"I stabbed the thing with a letter opener, and then he showed up and blasted it."

"Sheesh…"

Danny had been listening to Wendy recall the first moment she encountered The Middle-Organization on the ride over to what The Middleman called his "newer, safer apartment". As it turns out, Danny was finding many similarities between his story and hers. Both of them had been attacked, both rescued by The Middleman, and both had apparently demonstrated a quality that whatever organization The Middleman belonged to wanted.

Now, standing outside the building that Wendy had driven them to, he was even more confused about where this new turn in life was going to take him next.

"This is the building?" Danny asked. "Doesn't look like much for apartments."

Wendy shifted on the other foot uncomfortably, beginning her next sentence slowly, admitting the truth.

"They're more along the lines of illegal sublets."

Danny snapped his neck toward her.

"As in, you guys are squatting here?"

"Squatting is such a harsh term…"

"Do I get to squat too?"

Wendy turned to Danny and smirked. She knew there was something about this guy she liked. They were most likely going to get along just fine.

"Well you'll be 'squatting' in a different sublet, but on the same floor as me and my friends. I just have the key at my place, so we'll stop by there first."

The two of them entered the building, clambering into a rickety old elevator that Danny was certain was unsafe in some way. When the glorified wooden box finally gave a jolt and started ascending, he kept looking up like the line which was pulling them was going to snap at any moment.

Finally, the box began to slow and stopped on the floor of their destination. Danny watched Wendy move forward and push the wooden grate-door up and over their heads.

"Yo, Wendy Watson. Yo, new dude."

"Hey, Noser."

Danny turned to look at the guy who had called out to them. He was sitting in the hall, leaning against the wall, with his guitar slung over his shoulder as if waiting to be played. He was a dark-skinned young man with a large black afro. One black, scribbled skull and crossbones adorned the surface of his instrument. He was wearing a grungy green T-shirt and really faded blue jeans with one hole at the right knee.

The man seemed to study Wendy carefully before his smooth voice asked his question.

"I wanna go dancing tonight. How should I do it?"

Danny furrowed his brow. What a weird question to randomly ask out of the blue. But at his side, Wendy already broke out her answers.

"Cheek to cheek? Like there's no tomorrow? With yourself? With the lady in red?"

"Into the light?"

Both Wendy and Noser turned toward Danny, who just looked back and forth at both of them, nervously fidgeting at first.

"I…thought that's what we were playing….Phil Collins…"

The Noser pointed at him.

"Yeah, into the light. That's how I wanna go dancing."

Noser then leaned forward, placing his elbows on the guitar.

"I don't know you."

Wendy started in, gesturing toward Danny.

"Noser, this is Danny Dixon. He's the new guy at my office and I offered to show him around town after hours."

Danny arched en eyebrow, confused.

"The office? You mean the Middle…."

Seemingly in the blink of an eye, Wendy stepped closer to Danny and sharply kicked him in the back of his thigh. Danny grunted, hopped on that leg once, and realized again how secretive he was supposed to be about all of this, even though he still never signed on to anything.

"Right….the office. My mistake."

Noser looked puzzled, but his face then melted back into the clam mask it was assuming before.

"Welcome to the other side, Danny Dixon."

Danny nodded albeit uneasily at his new acquaintance.

"Erm, thanks, uh…Noser."

"See ya around, Noser. Gotta give the new guy the tour."

"See ya around, Wendy Watson."

Wendy guided Danny down the long, thin hallway of that floor until they reached a large blue door, which Wendy quickly unlocked and opened. The two of them stepped into the sublet. Danny took a minute to look around. The place was practically plastered with assorted paintings, half of which looked more like nonsensical letters and numbers painted on canvasses. Beyond the door, the walls were an earthly brown.

The whole place looked very cluttered as it was full of objects lying around, like paintbrushes soaking in water-filled soup cans and, strangely enough, stuffed animals.

"So this is Chateau Watson, eh? Very….filled." It was Danny's best attempt to both describe and try to compliment his host at the same time.

Wendy scoffed, giving him a push on the shoulder. "Well, not entirely. Half of it is Chateau Watson. The other would be Chateau Thornfield. I share this place with my roommate, Lacey."

As if on cue, Danny heard a girl's voice calling down from the second landing in the sublet, which he saw stairs leading up to on his right.

"Is that you, Dub-Dub?"

Wendy smiled and stepped past Danny to call up to her roommate.

"Yeah, Lace, it's me! Come on down! We've got company!"

"So do you, Little Miss Popular. Tyler's here!"

Danny saw Wendy perk up slightly before calling back.

"Thanks, Lace! I'll be right up!"

When she turned around, Danny noticed a much larger smile on her face.

"I'll be right back down. Have to go check up on my boy."

Danny chuckled and nodded.

"Sure thing. I'm a big boy. I can just chill here."

"I'll be down in a minute."

"Sure."

Danny watched her almost scurry through the door and up the stairs, rounding the corner and disappearing from view. Whoever this Tyler was, he clearly meant quite a bit to Wendy, Danny thought. He couldn't help but smile again as he took another look around the place. Sure, it was cluttered, but it also was stuffed full of personality. Even if you weren't a fan of messes, Danny knew there was a vibrant energy to the sublet. It really felt like a place for people who really lived.

Danny slowly took a few steps around the main living area, turning around and walking backwards to admire the full view of the place. What he failed to see was the yet unopened paint can lying just behind his right foot. That is, until he stepped on it and it rolled underneath his foot.

The next thing Danny knew he was smashed face-down on the wooden floor. Pain shot throughout his face as he saw stars for a brief moment. It was like an electric shock from his nose down to his neck. He picked himself up off the ground a little in a push-up position, shaking his head to try to clear the buzzing that now adorned his ears.

The buzzing was quickly replaced by the same voice he heard calling down to him and Wendy earlier. This time it sounded clearer, not muffled by another wall.

"Dub-Dub doesn't lie. Thought I heard two sets of steps…y'know, before I heard the really loud bang. You OK down there?"

Danny smiled ruefully and shook his head again. If there was one thing he could always count on, it would be his constantly making a fool out of himself in front of total strangers. It seemed to be a recurring theme over the last few days since Monster Amy.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Danny replied, chuckling bitterly before pushing himself up off the floor and standing back up. "In my…infinite grace….I guess I tripped on a p…"

When Danny looked up toward the voice, his last word immediately caught in his throat. He couldn't even get it out. The girl that stood at the bottom of the stairs across from him was shockingly pretty.

Danny had no idea why he was so blown away in that moment, but he couldn't help himself. He was looking up at one of the most beautiful faces he had ever seen framed by flowing blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He saw one of her eyebrows cock upwards.

"Like I said…you OK?"

Danny was jolted back into reailty, and he cursed himself in his mind. He knew he must have been staring. His next words came out stammered as he attempted to recover from his temporary dumbness.

"Th-the…uh…p-p…paint can! Yes, paint can!"

He gestured back toward it.

"That was what I tripped on."

Lacey looked behind him and sighed, shaking her head.

"Sorry about that. Dub-Dub and I get caught up with our art a lot of nights and sometimes we leave stuff lying around."

"Oh…no problem. None at all."

Danny cleared his throat and worked up the courage to take a few steps toward her and hold out his hand.

"My name's Daniel. Daniel Dixon."

He tried his best to make his voice sound deeper than earlier and used the formal style of his name that he hadn't asked to be called by since the 6th grade. Apparently the formality had caught on to Lacey as well, who took his outstretched hand in her own and pretended to curtsy, changing her voice to match his deep, formal one.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dixon!"

She giggled, her blue eyes brightening while she did so, which drew Danny's eyes to them once again before she spoke next.

"Can I just call you Danny?"

Danny hung his head a little while he laughed himself. If it was possible to slap himself on the forehead without her seeing, he would be doing it right now. He must have looked so stupid trying to seem more impressive.

"Yeah, Danny. Danny's great."

It was in that moment, when Danny hung his head, that he got his first conscious look at exactly what Lacey was wearing, and he almost jumped at the sight of it. How he missed it right off the bat was a mystery to him, but now it was standing before him in all its glory….and significant scent.

"Uh….is that a dress made out of….raw bacon?"

Lacey looked down at the outfit she had knit and sown together last night, and bore a mischievous grin and glint in her eye when she looked back up at him.

"Yep! Sowed the strips together last night for my performance today."

"Don't you mean _protest_, Lace?"

Danny saw Wendy reappear at the top of the stairs, with an arm draped across her shoulders belonging to a tall, thin man with short curly black hair standing by her side. Danny assumed that was Tyler.

"Protest?" Danny asked Lacey. "What for?"

After shooting an angry glare up at Wendy, Lacey returned her attention to Danny.

"I'm a spoken performance artist. This dress helps me to visualize my message for the less-trained eyes. I'm wearing it to the Sausage Social at town hall tonight."

Wendy laughed leaning her head on Tyler's chest as they walked down the stairs together.

"I'm pretty sure that dress isn't going to stop them from enjoying their breakfasts, Lace."

Lacey rolled her eyes and shook her head. Danny chimed in.

"Yeah, but I sure wouldn't like it if a bunch of suits stood around and ate little pieces of me on toothpicks."

Lacey smiled at him.

"Thank you! That's exactly my point! Did you know that pigs are actually so intelligent that they're used to find truffles in some parts of Europe?"

"Well, Lace, you're larger than my average breakfast," Tyler snuck in as he and Wendy reached the bottom floor with the rest. "But all we need is a really big skillet and I'll manage."

"Not to mention that dress will draw every canine in town," Wendy added. "You might spend more time running from hungry dogs than protesting."

This drew laughs from the both of them and Danny, despite his best efforts to be polite. Lacey was just left smiling and rolling her eyes.

"Philistines, all of you!"

The four of them kept laughing until Lacey playfully huffed and made her way to the stairs, stopping at the bottom to address everyone else in the room.

"Now, if you culture-challenged masses will excuse me, I still have to finish the hat!"

Lacey waved at them all in a mockingly queen-like way before running up the steps and disappearing around the corner. Wendy and Tyler turned around to face Danny, and Wendy saw his eyes were still looking up at the second floor after her roommate, and she stifled another snicker.

"Hey champ, eyes down here," she chided him.

Danny quickly tore his eyes off the second floor and back to the two smirking people in front of him.

"Sorry, I was just….admiring the place."

"Well, don't get stuck that way too long," Tyler said, holding out his hand. "Tyler Ford."

"Danny Dixon," Danny replied, shaking the man's hand.

"Well, now that introductions to all the important people in this place are in order, here's your key!" Wendy held out her fist, dropping a key into Danny's empty palm. Danny looked down at the tiny bronze key. There was the number 214 on it.

"You'll find your room at the end of the hall," she continued. "You should probably think about getting some rest soon. The boss wants us back in the office bright and early tomorrow morning."

Danny paused and looked at her quizzically. "What for?"

Wendy shot a cautious look over at Tyler before slowly continuing.

"You know….we have to make sure the….project….doesn't get out of hand," she tried.

Danny still had no idea what she could mean by that. She and The Middleman had saved him and then just asked him to join them. Was there more to the situation that he didn't know? Was this same incident still unsolved? He would have thought Monster Amy going down would have been the end of it.

Tyler was the one to break the awkward silence.

"Awww, early day in the morning? Does that mean you have to go to bed early….or…."

Wendy playfully smacked him on his chest, stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

"Don't push your luck, flyboy," but she was smiling the whole time.

Danny pocketed the key and gave the two a two-fingered salute.

"Alright, you two. Too much PDA for my taste. I'll see you in the morning, then, Wendy."

Danny laughed as Wendy shot him a dirty look. He went for the door, paused and turned once more to look up at the second landing, as if maybe he'd see her again. Seeing nothing but empty space, he then exited the room closing the door behind him.

The Middleman wasn't lying, Danny found out. When he opened Room 214 and looked inside, he saw a carbon copy of his old apartment. Everything was in its exact same place as it was in the other building, down to the slightest detail, and Danny found himself staring, mouth agape, aghast at how identical it was.

Even every last comic book he had ever collected was in the exact same order, arranged in the exact same manner. Danny didn't quite know who or what The Middleman was, but he was definitely a man of his word. He had to be supernatural in some way in order to accomplish something like this.

That thought made Danny wonder exactly what he had gotten himself into. What sort of world was he truly entering, and where would it take him if he accepted The Middleman's offer? For the moment, though, he was happy to have an apartment again, and he knew he could use some sleep to think about where his life was going, and whether or not this was a way he'd want to travel.

**A/N: Aaaaand that's the end of this chapter! Only one more and we will complete this three-part opening to this series of adventures. The next chapter will reveal the dark forces that will soon define this entire series, so look forward to that. As always, please review and tell me if I should either keep going with this or go jump off as building. I would much rather prefer the first option as I enjoy living.**

**-LCB**


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